Sadly, the Orange, long an eater of the bear, was this time eaten by the bear. Butler's bear.

Butler players celebrate with their trophy after beating Kansas State 63-56 in the NCAA West Regional final Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- If it makes anybody around here feel any better, we’ve helped to make the rest of College Basketball America very happy.

And by “we,” of course, I really mean “it” -- the Syracuse University basketball team.

People from Bangor to Bakersfield, from Sarasota to Seattle, are loving this idea of Butler playing in the Final Four in its own Indianapolis back yard. Beyond that, people beyond our precincts are giddy at the thought that maybe, just maybe, the Bulldogs might actually wend their way into next Monday’s title game and then actually win it.

This is “Hoosiers” meets “Rudy” meets “Rocky.” And while the rest of the country fairly beams while thinking of such a wonder, we’ve been left to feel miserable. And why not? If the Orange had just taken care of the ball last Thursday night out there in Salt Lake City, if it had made, oh, 15 or 16 turnovers rather than the 18 it committed, SU might have been joining Michigan State, West Virginia and the Dookies out there in Indiana for this 2010 Final Four.

But no. Just as Kansas lost to Northern Iowa . . . just as Georgetown lost to Ohio . . . just as Vanderbilt lost to Murray State . . . just as Villanova lost to Saint Mary’s . . . just as New Mexico lost to Washington . . . just as Ohio State lost to Tennessee . . . just as Notre Dame lost to Old Dominion . . . just as Temple and Wisconsin lost to Cornell . . . well, just as all those big favorites lost when most believed they wouldn’t or couldn’t, so, too, did the Orange lose to the Bulldogs.

Which only underscores that if you love the NCAA Tournament’s one-and-done devil’s dance -- a concept meant to embarrass, rather than to identify, the better teams -- then you need to accept the dangers inherent in it.

But then, thanks to that Utah nightmare four days ago, we’ve all been painfully reminded.

You know it’s a funny thing. A year ago, SU lost in the Sweet 16 . . . and nobody was surprised because Oklahoma, with Blake Griffin, was simply that good. But this time around? The Orange got to the Sweet 16 once more . . . but nearly everyone ended up disappointed because Butler, out of the meek Horizon League, was properly deemed to be not as talented and/or as accomplished as Syracuse.

In the end, though, it didn’t matter because in the only 40 minutes that counted, the gritty, tough-minded (and reasonably blessed) Bulldogs outscored the Orange . . . and in the process, they inspired all the teeth-gnashing in these parts.

Me? I think this:

I think SU blew it. And I think everybody associated with SU knows SU blew it. But that is the glory (and the agony) of sports. Sometimes the favorites don’t play like favorites. Sometimes the little guys don’t play like little guys. Sometimes the unforeseen happens.

And that’s why we watch. If every game ended the way it was supposed to end, what would be the point of caring, of tuning in, of investing? The very contest that has crushed our town has delighted a nation . . . and while that provides little solace around here, it doesn’t make that fact any less of a fact.

Here’s the deal in these days of growing parity in the college game: If good teams “owe” their fans anything, it’s to get through the first weekend and into the Sweet 16. At that point, with 49 clubs having been sent home (and with hundreds having never been invited to participate in the first place), the NCAA Tournament can become a free-for-all. To expect, rather than to hope, that one’s hometown team proceeds to the Elite Eight, to the Final Four and to the title affair is . . . simply, it’s unfair to the athletes and bad for your belly.

All of that submitted, here’s hoping Butler wins the whole thing. Indeed, losing to the eventual champion might provide a bit of comfort.

Accent on the word, might.

(Bud Poliquin’s freshly-written on-line commentaries, his columns and his “To The Point” observations appear virtually every day on syracuse.com. Additionally, his work can be regularly found on the pages of The Post-Standard newspaper. E-mail: bpoliquin@syracuse.com.)